Friday, June 27, 2008

Ira Progoff writes, "Bibles are indeed being renewed and extended in the depth of individual experience. ...we make contact each in our own way and in varying degrees with the same inexhaustible sources out of which the old Bibles came. Whenever an individual touches those sources, regardless of the language or the doctrine or the symbols in which the experience comes, new sparks of divinity enter the world. And these sparks ignite fires that give warmth and light but do not consume."

Place a bowl of clear, cool water in a sacred place like upon the kitchen table. Bless it. Write a love poem to the Goddess. Praise Love and Balance. Accept your own Divinity and that of those around you. Bless You.

Monday, June 23, 2008

If I were a honey bee I would head straight to the wild artichokes along the road.

These may be my favorite colors. So gorgeous it makes me ache.

This is a piece of my current in-process painting. The Buck Eyes are getting ahead of me, already bloomed out, losing their flowers and their leaves turning yellow. The season is ahead of itself. Maybe not. Could everything be right on track, regardless of the news and the smoke so thick I cannot see the closest mountain to the north?

Saturday, June 21, 2008

This morning we were eating our Quinoa while watching the Brown Towhee with her big fat spotted baby on the lawn, in the hedge, and at the feeder. That baby bird is a bottomless pit. All of us were transfixed, even Meat Pie and Luna, who were watching out the screen door.

Luna was sitting closest of course, she being the closer-than-close dog. Wayne noticed how when she sits, her butt does not touch the floor, and said something to that effect. I noticed that she was beginning to twitch. Not a good sign. No, not at all. I made the "Ah-ah!" sound, which usually means, "Stop that now!" and she started, and reared up and banged the screen door at the handle and it slammed open and Wayne yelled, and she lit in the middle of the lawn and stopped! Opportunist Meat Pie, of course took this moment to slip right out, whaahoooo!

Luna took a quick circle, kind of like the Lipizzaner stallions that we saw Wednesday evening at the Fairgrounds, in the center of the lawn. When she looked at me I said, "Good Girl! Come!" which in some strange way is supposed to tell her, "Look! I am Patient this morning, and not dog-homicidal!" so then she would come to me, right? Oh beans. I just can still see her, whirling like a dervish, hitting the grass finally on all fours, and then to my amazement, she bolted straight into the hedge! She flailed around in there for what seemed like kind of a long time and came out on the road side.

And there at the corner was Bob and Chili. Oh Goddess, this was starting to go downhill. Bob swung at her with his newspaper (is he beyond training?) and so she loped off, and I could hear CHICKENS SQUAWKING. Both Meat Pie and Luna greeted Bob, and I really wish he'd just leaned down and taken one of them by the collar. And, he has seen them drag me across the lawn as though I was the sled, so he didn't. Now they were gone.

I went up the chicken's driveway in time to see Luna going pausing at the back gate. I noted that the chickens were behind us (yay!), and went around the house to the backyard. There was Wayne, with leashes, and Meat Pie in the chicken coop sniffing for poop and compost, and Luna was over in the flower bed. I called her, "Come, Luna." adding a few "Good Girls" for good measure, and stayed calm. She did not come directly, it took about three times, but she made 3 circles in diminishing circumference to a "sit" at Wayne's feet. I calmly snapped on her leash, and Wayne fished that Lab out of the compost.

SHE DID NOT CHASE THE CHICKENS!!!

We finished our breakfast. I kept the leash on Luna and had her stay in "down," which she did very willingly. Wayne asked me, "Did that scare you? Were you panicked?"

Dammit. My biggest concern was that I was in my nightgown, not prepared to be chasing the blinketyblank dogs all over the neighborhood in plain sight of everybody. Maybe this whole dog-thing is normalizing. I just wish I had a picture of Luna diving into the hedge.

Friday, June 20, 2008

Cleome is a beautiful name, and exotic. Papa Ott is at her feet, gaining momentum.

Nasturtium, Marigold and Zucchini, a trio.

Today is the longest day, here in our part of the world. "Enjoy it," my sweet friend said this morning. A couple of days ago on my way into town, I saw in the vineyard 3 wild turkey hens with their broods, perhaps 30+ turkey-kidlets in all. The new flock about! In Humboldt Co., when I was making innumerable trips up to be with Mom, on my way home I listened to KHUM until I was out of range. On Tuesday mornings I listened to a gem of a show called "Turkey....?" Too bad I cannot remember the name! Anyways, these people kept track of the wild turkeys, and reported upon their where-abouts and goings-on. Which reminds me that the name of the show was/maybe still is, "Wild Turkey Report." I learned so much about the habits and social structure of the wild turkey, and it was fascinating. They even did a "turkey count" for different areas and roads.

Where else would you ever find this kind of thing out? Just here on LARABEE and on KHUM.

One of these days this summer I am going to go up to Larabee and see how it goes on the little hill above the Eel River. And jump in at the Eddy, oh the deep deep deep eddy, where the river is beautiful green like the ocean. And cold.

Which sounds so good on this 102+ day! The Longest Day in the N. Hemisphere. Hang on, right? 'Cause now we're shifting gears, tilting a bit, moving in a little closer. Remember back into your bones, before everything got all "civilized," breathe into the time

OMIGODDESS! An enormous thunderhead just grew up past the sun! Perhaps this remembering will take us into healing our Mother Planet, take us into Source, into the shadowy brilliance from whence we all come.

And I say there is nothing like a little "dog training" to wake me up!

Approximately two weeks ago, my daughter and her daughters, were in my studio and I saw out the window Luna sneak-sliding through the neighbor's bamboo gate with chickens on her radar. "OH GOD!" I scared everyone within hearing range, and yelled at my daughter (sorry!), "Hang on to Pie!" As I write this I realize there are times that I make absolutely no sense whatever. Apologizing for that will do no one any good because I am not sure there is anything that I can do about that.

I flew as fast as I can go, out the back door, across the lawn, out the gate which was open and hence-forth the dog out, across the lane, into the bamboo, through the neighbor's yard and garden to the chicken coop where Luna already was into the delirious activity of trying to catch flying, flapping, shrieking Banties. I yelled something like "STOP!" to which she looked up (hey, that was a 'teaching-moment' had I known what to do). Unfortunately the chickens flew out the door and Luna went into pursuit hot on the tail of a rooster. This all was mortifying and awful.

Having grown up on a dairy I have an ingrown-toenail kind of belief that chicken-chasing-bad-dogs are ultimately going to wind up on the wrong end of some body's rifle-sight. Not to mention that anyone who's dog is that kind of dog is, by association or something no better than the rotten dog.

And to complicate things even more, I really like this Bloo Luna dog.

After she figured out that chasing chickens was going nowhere (I was closing-in on her), Luna decided to run off to Bob's. Bob lives directly behind us, and thank God, has a gate that functions. Meat Pie is always at Bob's when she has been bad and run off. Thank God we all share these yards and 3 acres. I closed the gate like I always do, and commenced catching the dog who ran away from me again and only slowed down when I said, kind of like a command, "BAD DOG!" Luna fell into a collapsed sad dog way under Bob's pick-up, out of reach. At this point my 7 year old granddaughter Mary came through the gate, and Luna raced to her and sat down and Mary took hold of her collar. Done.

And Bob told me that he doesn't trust her, that she jumped Chili, and she has a Pit Bull face.

So, yesterday we had Training. We used the 'pinch collar' and walked properly. We practiced 'sit' and 'stay.' We walked down the lane past the feral cats in the brush, the multitudes of fowl, the sheep, more chickens and the horses with foals. I was sweating nervously. The Trainer took the leash occasionally, and coached Wayne and I. Then we switched Luna to the Long Line. The Trainer (Wade the Miracle) told me to drop the line. My life flashed before me. How would I explain to three different neighbors the chaos which would be sure to follow such a stupid act? "Are you sure? Are you going to jump on it?" I envisioned stomping furiously while 30 feet of Long Line flashed beneath my feet at the speed of light as Luna streaked into any pasture available, to the left or right or straight ahead, madly destroying all living creatures. "I will catch her if I need to," WTMDT said calmly. I dropped the Line, "Call her to you and keep walking," were my insane instructions.

I dropped the Line and she stood there in the middle of the road, dumb-struck. The Long Line had her completely baffled.

We continued on. Luna adapted to the long leash dragging behind her. She was alternatingly confused and obedient. She did what was asked of her. She seemed to understand. She didn't even try to chase the livestock. She took to/accepted the corrections. And then we returned to the yard and went around to the scene of the criminal chicken chasing. She was attentive in the wrong way (like, where are they??) and so was corrected. I was taught how to command, "Down, Now." and had to practice. I was taught how to get her down (a pretty cool trick), and then I was instructed to walk her to the chicken coop, asking of her at each threshold, "Down, Now" and she did it with only a few times being 'forced.' And when we arrived, it took us about ten minutes to go about 50 feet, she lost all of her new lessons and wanted to lunge at the coop and I had to use all my strength to restrain her. This is where WTMDT took over. He worked with her at the door, and then opened the coop and took her inside. She was still hoping, maybe, that she would get to chase. Not possible. Wade worked with her, which was intense. Not mean in any way. He was calm, and made it very clear what was expected of her, and showed her that he very much was/is boss.

It seemed that she was very over the chicken-thing.

And I am committed to working with her every day. She is responsive and intelligent. I have not been consistant, especially through these past few months of no-energy. The Long Line is an amazing tool, and she may just wear it when ever I feel that she may be tempted to stray. I do not know if she is "cured" of chicken chasing. I am not really into experimenting with that, I just am going to focus on consistant training. How unlike any of the work I am doing is that?

Discipline is bringing focus and repitition to something that I desire to grow/have/be in my life. I pull weeds out of the beans because I want lots of beans. I pray because I am a changed woman from prayer. I meditate because when I do clarity shines into my life. I work with Luna because she is worth every minute of it, and she and I may just up-root that ingrown-toenail belief that serves neither one of us.

About Me

Swallowtail Butterflies are fresh and new by the first of April. Larabee is a hidden valley created by the Eel River. Perhaps I have lived here since time began, a butterfly in the willows on the banks of a Northern river.